Red Sox pummel Yanks, off to 2-0 start

It has been a long time since the Red Sox played back-to-back games this well. Boston battered the Yankees, 7-4, on a frigid night in the Bronx.

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By
TIM BRITTON
Posted Apr. 3, 2013 @ 10:35 pm

NEW YORK — It has been a long time since the Red Sox played back-to-back games this well.

Boston battered the Yankees, 7-4, on a frigid night in the Bronx. The Red Sox have won two straight to open the season for the first time since 1999. They have scored at least seven runs in their first two games for the first time since 1995. It’s the first time they’ve done that on the road since 1919.

“We’re out of the gate with two solid wins,” manager John Farrell said. “We’ve got a number of professional hitters in the lineup. They’re not afraid to hit with two strikes and not trying to do too much in these situations.”

Boston takes the field on Thursday with a chance at its first three-game winning streak since last year’s trade deadline.

For the second time in as many games, the Sox delivered a comprehensive performance, grabbing an early lead and placing it in a stranglehold. Boston has led after 17 of the 18 innings it has played this season.

“Every aspect of the game we’re playing well. We’re running the bases well, swinging the bats, pitching well. It’s a positive start for us,” said right fielder Shane Victorino.

Once again, the Red Sox displayed patience on offense and a lineup with more depth than expected, especially considering early-season injuries.

To wit, Boston’s bottom third of the order — Victorino, Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Jose Iglesias — combined for five hits, four runs and two RBI.

Consecutive two-out hits by that trio opened the game up in the third inning. With Boston already ahead 2-0 and Jarrod Saltalamacchia on second, Victorino came through with a single to left, his third RBI hit in two games (and his fourth hit overall, compared with just eight all spring).

After a Victorino steal of second, Bradley delivered the first hit of his big-league career. His sharp ground-ball single up the middle drove home Victorino to make it 4-0.

Iglesias followed with a double down the left-field line — his specialty all spring — to put two in scoring position, and Jacoby Ellsbury greeted reliever Adam Warren with a single up the middle to bring them both home.

The Yankees’ bullpen was put into early action because of an injury to starter Hiroki Kuroda. On Victorino’s line drive back up the middle in the second, Kuroda committed the impulsive sin of trying to field the ball barehanded. The liner nicked off his hand, and while Kuroda initially stayed in the game, it became clear quickly he didn’t have any feel for the ball.

Over the next four hitters, Kuroda hit two and walked another. The second hit-batsman, Daniel Nava, forced in a run. Kuroda left after 11/3 innings — the shortest start of his career.

The Sox had scored in the first on a Saltalamacchia two-out single, and they added a run on a Pedroia ground-out in the sixth.

It was more than enough support for Clay Buchholz. In seven innings, Buchholz allowed just three runners into scoring position; he stranded them all.

“First game of the season, last couple years, it’s been tough getting started,” he said. “To go out and feel good for a change, it’s definitely a lot better than going out and throwing three innings.”

The right-hander yielded just six hits in all, walking two and striking out four — all on fastballs. His lone mistake was a first-pitch fastball that Travis Hafner deposited into the home bullpen in the fourth inning.

Buchholz displayed his usual array of weapons. He threw all six of his pitches at least eight times, including the splitter he began incorporating in the middle of last season. The best sign, though, for Buchholz was that he was able to find the strike zone with all of those options. His fastball command was near impeccable, with 34 of his 47 fastballs (both two- and four-seam) in the zone.

Alfredo Aceves served up a three-run homer to Vernon Wells in the eighth, but Joel Hanrahan locked the game down in the ninth for his first save with the Red Sox.